Scripture reading for today: Acts 7; Joel 1-3
Stephen, a man full of God’s grace and power, performed amazing miracles and signs among the people. Acts 6:8 NLT
Today we find Stephen, filled with the Holy Spirit and exhibiting God’s power and love (awesome “transfer” – see the previous few days’ devotions to get this), ultimately is run out of town and stoned (no, not what you’re thinking–he was killed by people throwing rocks at him).
“You stubborn people! You are heathen at heart and deaf to the truth. Must you forever resist the Holy Spirit?” Acts 7:51 NLT
Perhaps that did him in; he spoke a hard truth, and no one wanted to hear it. It’s stories like this that cause us to wonder about what it truly means to “come to believe.” If that story doesn’t scare you, turn back to Acts 5 and review what happened to Ananias and Sapphira. It wasn’t like they didn’t give a penny to the church; they gave! They lied about how much. Look where that got them!
“Coming to believe” isn’t for sissies. Sometimes bad things happen even when we’re “full of God’s grace and power, performing amazing miracles and signs among the people.” Sometimes our “sins” seem to go unnoticed. Other times it seems like the boom gets lowered quite fiercely.
I don’t know what to make of all these stories. I can read the commentaries and even come to some conclusions. But the truth is, God is mysterious, His ways are beyond our comprehension. He loves us, but He also loves justice. He’s big on mercy and grace, but sometimes the dispensing of that mercy and grace is more confusing to us than comforting because we don’t get the big picture. “Coming to believe” requires us to let go and let God do His thing without trying to wrestle away the reins of control. (Hey, if this were easy, anybody could do it.)
I don’t know how “coming to believe” is going to play itself out in my life, much less yours! But I know that doing it my way has consistently not worked for me. In the days ahead, we’re going to consider how doing it our way can be, well, deadly.
I am your Creator. You were in my care even before you were born. Isaiah 44:2a Contemporary English Version